After several months and hundreds of trouble-free miles, this problem has emerged again. Exact same story as before. This time the ignition went from normal to dead-in-the-water in about 10 seconds idling at a stoplight. Spark was weak and resistance through the points was excessive (0.4-0.5V). I used a nail file to try to bring the points back but I could only get the car to run for a minute or two before it quit again. As before, a new set of points instantly cured the problem.

2 new wrinkles to the situation:
1. this time I installed my new spare condenser
2. I only got about 100 miles in before the same symptoms appeared again (both failures occurred today!). This time it quit a few blocks from my house. I pushed it into a street side parking spot and walked home.

I don’t understand what’s killing the points, and why sanding/filing them doesn’t bring them back. 2 new condensers, same outcome.

Part of me wants to make the points work, but the rest of me is ready to throw in the towel and go Pertronix.

1954 Crestline Victoria 312 4-bbl, 3-speed overdrive

What I used was an IC PPB 1K VDC .22uF 10% FD50 mounted externally. I bet the Orange Drops would work fine and fit under the cap.mounted securely. You can carry a spare stock type condenser with a screwdriver and a wrench just in case. 



"FREE SAMPLE"

I removed the ford  duraspark,relaced with used dist(points)and sprayed some thin rust remover.. started  but run poorly. pulled dist found the points not working due to the spray,dismant  dist clean and am installing petronixl system. work still in progresses vac advance wear buttons  missing from movable plate to vac advance unit. appears points very sensitive tomtits trapped re lube or cleaning 

Honestly I can't see anything wrong with those point faces in the picture?

I ran points for a long time, thousands of miles and they always looked something like that. Like somebody mentioned, nobody paid any attention to this stuff years ago. We just drove.

The points to me look like too high of a voltage but they were not blue like others I have seen not running a ballast resistor. I suffered twice with point/condenser problems before going electronic. Many to choose from and I haven’t changed or had to clean spark plugs for 8 years. Timing also never moves. 

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.

There is a guy (Jon G) on www.stovebolt.com which is old GM trucks that developed a capacitor that replace condensors in most any situation. Fits in just about any distributor or can be mounted externally. Search the Forum section for "The electrical bay" section and browse for "Aftermarket condenser". Looks to be a pretty good idea.

SE Wis

Back in the day, we never worried about these things.  We ran down to the local auto parts store, bought new points and a condenser and rode down the road. These days, buying points and condenser for a Y-Block is like playing a slot machine with a 50% house edge.  Buy a Pertronix unit and the matching Pertronix coil and forget about it.  My TBird engine starts first time every time and never misfires, stalls or leaves me on the side of the road.  I do miss waiting around for the AAA tow truck driver.....    :>

I know what you mean about blood pressure! :-D When I was on the roadside dealing with this I was really reconsidering going with Pertronix.  I still might eventually make that switch.

I just did a quick check and found the following, with drivetrain cold and ambient temperature of about 55*F:  coil primary resistance = 3.0 ohms, secondary resistance = 9560 ohms, voltage drop from coil negative to battery negative, 0.145V (key on points closed).  My distributor, points, and condenser are 1959-spec.  The coil internal resistance is very close to the '59 cumulative resistance of ballast + coil, the range of which is 2.7-2.94 ohms per the factory service manual.  The '59 stock coil is supposed to have 8000-8800 ohms secondary resistance, so my current coil exceeds that.  The manual also expects a coil negative to ground voltage drop not exceeding 0.1V.

I'll also note that the distributor was disassembled and thoroughly cleaned before installation just a couple of hundred miles ago, and that the breaker plate ground wire was replaced at that time as well as the coil to distributor terminal wire.  The only piece of primary wiring I haven't replaced yet is the distributor terminal to points terminal wire, but it hasn't shown any voltage drop any time I have checked it.  If trouble persists without an obvious culprit, I will replace it.

My current plan is to keep driving and just periodically check the coil to ground voltage drop for signs that it is increasing.  I will of course have diagnostic tools and spare parts on hand!  Do you think the differences in coil spec would have significant impacts on point life or ignition performance?



1954 Crestline Victoria 312 4-bbl, 3-speed overdrive

Which one do you use? I have several in my kit for radio & stereo work. I tested some Sprague "Orange Drop" 715, these are large 600 volt 0.22uF film capacitors. The thin metalized film type are said not to work in this application. The orange drops seem to look great on a scope in the garage but I didn't try them on a road trip or anything like that. They have solid leads though, so they would need protection from vibration or they will work harden and break, I expect.

I don't know if it's the voltage so much as the current (heat) that is the issue here. Maybe arcing becomes a factor, I don't know. Excessive heat will cause coil trouble. He mentioned replacing with an "internal resistance" coil, but the details matter. I assumed it was a standard ignition points coil of approx. 1.5 ohm primary winding. Coupled with the ign RUN ballast of approx. 1.5 ohms, this will keep the total ampere flow through the ignition system within spec with the engine running.

It's probably a good idea to check "point resistance", between battery negative post and the movable points plate in the distributor. Depending on the distributor design various intermittent ground defects can cause trouble, too. Frayed primary wiring from coil to distributor, or the bare copper stranded strap that grounds the points plate to the distributor housing might be missing or "not installed".